


Under the Northern Lights

by LostInFantasyWorlds



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alaska, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mutual Pining, Northern Lights, Photographer Kagome, Photography, Sexual Tension, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 15:27:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30124875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostInFantasyWorlds/pseuds/LostInFantasyWorlds
Summary: Kagome Higurashi has her dream job, working as a photographer for the internationally well-known Yugen magazine. Her job whisks her all around the world, leaving her feeling lonely sometimes but mostly just incredibly grateful to be doing what she loves. When she gets assigned to northern Alaska for a month to photograph a series of celestial events, she runs into Inuyasha, a half-demon who lives on his own in the middle of nowhere. A mutual attraction draws them to each other, but Kagome's time there is limited. Will giving in to their desire lead to love or heartbreak?
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha, Miroku/Sango (InuYasha)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19





	Under the Northern Lights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goshinote](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goshinote/gifts).



> This fic is very near and dear to my heart. I work in the field of Photography, and have always had a strong interest in night photography in particular. I've also always loved any and all things celestial/space related (my wedding ceremony was in a planetarium!). And lastly, Yugen Magazine is actually a concept I came up with in college for my Editorial Design class. You can see my design/concept [here](https://yugeneditorial.tumblr.com/) if interested. So basically, this fic is just a combination of some of my favorite things, as well as a love letter to my favorite fictional couple of all time, InuKag. 
> 
> For the purposes of this fic, Yugen is basically equivalent to National Geographic as far as worldwide popularity goes, except maybe exaggerated a bit because I know National Geographic doesn't really employ any photographers full time the way I have it in this story. Also, I tried to do a lot of location research, but I have never been to Alaska so I apologize in advance if anything isn't entirely accurate.
> 
> This story is dedicated to my amazing friend Jane ([goshinote](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goshinote/works))!! She not only looked over drafts of each chapter for me, but also made me fanart, listened to my playlists, and just generally fangirled/cheered me on ever since I first told her the idea. She also came up with the idea for one of the main moments in this first chapter (I'll explain more in the notes at the end)! Thank you so so much Jane for how much love you've shown this story, it means the world to me! You are an amazing friend, and I'm so happy that we've been able to cheer each other on in our writing endeavors😁. Love ya! ❤️ 
> 
> I'd also like to say a special thank you to our resident astronomer [NeutronStarChild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeutronStarChild/pseuds/NeutronStarChild/works) for answering all of my questions about space and helping me make sure that anything astronomy-related in this story is accurate! Thank you so much, you are so kind and your writing is stellar (pun intended - sorry I had to😂)!
> 
> One last note and then I'll shut up and get on with the story. I'm heavily inspired by music while writing, so for this fic I've made several playlists, one for each "section" of the story. The first playlist is for chapters 1-5 and it can be found [here](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYRQwd7Y-pszJICf6GzBXtI8jxQYZKc2k). 
> 
> Thank you for reading!🥰

“Miroku, let’s just pull off at the next side road. I’ve already seen three shooting stars! We’re going to miss it if we don’t stop soon.”

“You got it, boss,” Miroku replied, focusing his attention on looking for anything resembling a dirt road. 

Kagome Higurashi leaned back in the passenger seat of their rental Ford Escape, gazing up through the moonroof at the clear, sparkling night sky above her. The subtle twinkling of the stars was hypnotizing, making her feel calm and drowsy. The last sixteen hours had been full of airports, baggage claims, layovers, hotels, and rental cars as Kagome and her assistant Miroku had traveled from New York City to Fairbanks, Alaska. 

Kagome hadn’t been able to sleep much on the flights due to the time difference, and the jetlag was starting to catch up to her. Yet, despite the exhaustion tugging at her eyelids, she was itching to get out of the car and start photographing the meteor shower that had already begun.

Kagome was proud to be the youngest staff photographer for Yugen magazine, an international publication dedicated to highlighting the most awe-inspiring things about the world around them. It was easily one of the most popular magazines in the world, known especially for the eye-catching photographs that graced its pages. 

Yugen contracted countless photographers for odd jobs around the world, but only employed three full-time staff photographers. To hold that position was something that most photographers could only ever dream of, one of the most coveted and competitive jobs available in the world of photography. Kagome had held the envious title for the last two years, working her ass off and making countless sacrifices to get there.

She had risen above her competition by proving that she had not only a natural talent and eye for photography, but also a deep understanding of the technical side as well. Her specialties, night and wildlife photography, required a level of skill and understanding of the science behind the camera that not all photographers achieved.

But perhaps even more important than her technical skill was the wholehearted passion that Kagome put into her work. She was able to find the beauty in anything, and it brought her genuine happiness to capture it so others could experience that beauty as well. It was what kept her going and truly loving her job, even on days like today where she was completely drained. She yawned a little, wondering whose bright idea it was to start shooting the same night they arrived. Probably hers.

“Oh, there’s a road up ahead on the right!” Miroku suddenly exclaimed from the driver’s seat, pointing at a little dirt road that branched off from the highway on Kagome’s side.

“Finally! Let’s take it,” Kagome replied, feeling a little relieved. She had wanted to get deep into the wilderness to get set up, not wanting to chance a car driving by and having headlights mess up her shot. However, she had greatly overestimated the amount of side roads they would encounter. They had been driving north on Elliot Highway for about forty-five minutes and hadn’t seen a road for close to a half hour. Kagome had insisted they skip over the last one because it was still just close enough to town that there might be some lingering light pollution.

Miroku turned down the road, and Kagome looked at the car’s navigation screen, noting what looked like a large clearing in the woods a little ways past where the road ended. Perfect. She then wrote down the latitude and longitude on the notepad of her phone, in case she wanted to return to the same spot tomorrow. She locked her phone and shoved it back in her pocket, seeing as how it wasn’t useful for much else beyond the notepad at the moment.

She had pretty much resigned herself to keeping her phone in Airplane Mode the whole trip, not wanting to pay for exorbitant roaming costs. Not to mention there was absolutely no cell service once they got fifteen minutes outside of town anyways. She had given the number of the hotel to anyone who might possibly need to reach her in an emergency. It wasn’t anything new to her, many of her assignments being in remote places with no cell service. The only difference was that they weren’t usually this long.

She had been assigned to photograph in Northern Alaska for an entire month, starting March 14th and staying through April 12th. The longer than usual assignment was due to two once-in-a-lifetime celestial events happening within a few weeks of each other. The first was a highly concentrated meteor shower, caused by the recently discovered Comet Izumo. The second was a major solar storm predicted to occur in a little over three weeks, that promised to deliver never-before-seen spikes of activity of the aurora borealis. 

Kagome and her boss, Caitlin, had obsessively researched locations over the last few days, ultimately deciding on Alaska as the ideal location to capture both events. When Kagome had asked what they were supposed to do in between, Caitlin had just said, “I’m sure you can find plenty of material to shoot in Alaska to fill up your time, Higurashi. We have plenty to work with for our next issue, so you can consider this a vacation of sorts.”

Kagome had almost laughed in her face. 

A vacation? _Yeah, right_.

She didn’t get real vacations. She didn’t get much time at her apartment in New York City either. She rarely got to see her family back in Japan. She didn’t get to have friends or a love life. Her job constantly whisked her away from all of those things, hardly giving her time to breathe. She spent most of her time on the road or in the air, getting more than one consecutive week at home only a handful of times a year. 

She would never be caught complaining, however. The job she had now had been her dream since she was fifteen and bought her first copy of Yugen magazine. The beautiful photographs and the allure of traveling the world had always called to her as she obsessed over every issue. She would pin photos from the magazine up on her walls, repeating to herself over and over that one day someone would be pinning up _her_ photographs. 

Although her goal seemed like just a pipe dream to others, she never allowed herself to falter or give up on it. It had always felt like she was simply _destined_ to work for Yugen, so she let her ambition and passion drive her through endless studying and practice. After years of portfolio building, shitty freelance jobs, unpaid internships, and assisting, she finally achieved what she worked so hard for. Now that she had it, she wasn’t going to let _anything_ jeopardize it. 

No matter how painfully lonely she might feel sometimes.

Finally reaching the end of the dirt road, Kagome directed Miroku to park the car off to the side. She glanced at the outside temperature on the dashboard right before Miroku turned the car off. Bracing herself for a frigid _thirteen degrees_ fahrenheit, she opened the passenger side door and was immediately hit with the sting of the wintry air. Her breath formed a cloud in front of her as she exited the car and shut the door behind her. She flipped the hood of her jacket over her hat and pulled the drawstring tight, already missing the cozy interior of the Ford. 

Walking around to the trunk where Miroku was gathering all of their equipment, she grabbed a large flashlight and her main camera bag. After double checking to make sure they had everything, Miroku slammed the trunk shut and clicked the key fob to lock the car. The sound echoed in the eerie silence as they began their trek through the snowy woods, Kagome filling Miroku in on the clearing she had noted on the map.

Kagome clicked the flashlight on, illuminating the way ahead with a narrow beam of light. It was almost pitch dark, the new moon having been yesterday. The perfect conditions for shooting a meteor shower. She had attempted to capture the first couple nights of it by driving outside the city to upstate New York. She had gotten a couple decent shots, but it wasn’t the same as being here in Alaska, so close to the arctic circle with little to no light pollution. Not to mention the Northern Lights that were sure to be on display.

Sure enough, as they finally reached the huge clearing in the woods, Kagome looked up to see faint waves of green dancing across the sky. She clicked off the flashlight and smiled, a familiar excitement bubbling inside her at the anticipation of capturing the beautiful sight above them. Doing a quick scan of their surroundings, she was pleased to see a varied landscape with ample visual interest. 

Several large boulders covered in a dusting of snow sat towards the opposite edge of the clearing, with a small mountain range visible behind them in the distance. The clearing was huge, Kagome guessed at least half a mile wide, covered in a thick blanket of snow. To their left were more trees, and to their right it looked like there might be a small body of water behind more boulders. 

Yeah, she was definitely going to want to return to this spot. 

“This is as good a place as any, I think. I’d like to try and get those mountains in the shot, and the edge of those trees — you see them, over there?” Kagome pointed across the clearing, directing Miroku on how she wanted the shot set up.

Miroku gave her a thumbs up, now able to see each other somewhat after letting their eyes adjust to the dark.

“Thanks, Miroku,” Kagome said as he began setting up her equipment like a well-oiled machine.

Miroku was one of the few friends that she was able to keep, since he traveled with her on many of her assignments and understood the pressures of the job. The only other friend she kept in contact with these days was Sango, who just so happened to be Miroku’s wife.

Sango, Miroku, and Kagome all worked at Yugen in varying capacities. Sango focused on physical protection, essentially acting as a bodyguard during more dangerous jobs. She had been paired with Kagome early on, and the two became fast friends. Miroku had an interest in photography like Kagome, but Kagome always teased him that he really only joined her team because of Sango being on it. Over the years, he stopped denying it.

The two hadn’t quite hit it off right away, Miroku being “a little too much of a womanizer” for Sango as she had put it. But he persisted, showing her that he was willing to change his ways and become a one-woman man just for her. About a year after they met, they started going out. They were married just two years later, Miroku saying he had known from the moment he first met her that Sango would one day be his wife. Now, a little less than a year after their wedding, Sango was seven months pregnant with twin girls.

She was bummed she couldn’t join them on their trip to Alaska, but she understood the job, having been part of Kagome’s travel team herself until she got too far into her pregnancy. Miroku had worried about the trip being so late in her pregnancy, but her due date wasn’t for another month after they were to return home to New York. He had offered to submit a request to stay home, but Sango insisted he go so that she could live vicariously through him. 

“Oh I meant to ask, did you get a chance to talk to Sango at the hotel before we left?” Kagome asked Miroku as he attached her camera to a tripod. Miroku had opted to pay the extra roaming costs for his phone, wanting to be as available as possible in case his wife needed to reach him for anything. That still didn’t change the fact that there was no service this far out of town.

“Yeah, I checked in with her to let her know we got here safely.” 

“How is she doing?”

Miroku used the light from his phone to plug a cord into the side of the camera, setting up a lawn chair next to it and pulling out a laptop from one of their bags.

“She’s already bored, but her mom should be arriving sometime tomorrow so she’ll have plenty to do once she gets there.”

“How are you going to feel having your mother-in-law around all the time once we get back?” Kagome smiled at him.

“Honestly, I think we’re going to need all the help we can get once the babies arrive. Plus, it makes me feel a hell of a lot better knowing Sango will have some help while I’m gone. I don’t know if I would have been able to leave her if Itsumi wasn’t moving in temporarily. It’s been so long since we got the chance to go home and see her, so it will be nice to have her around.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Kagome sighed sadly as she double-checked her camera settings. It had been close to two years since she had seen her mother, grandfather, and brother back in Japan. Miroku and Sango understood, since they had all decided to leave Japan and move to New York after Kagome’s promotion. Their little team worked perfectly together, and none of them wanted to give that dynamic up. Plus, the New York office had become the hub of the magazine, offering more opportunities than the original Tokyo office. 

“Ready when you are, boss,” Miroku said from his seated position next to Kagome’s camera, peering through a small opening in the black cover that surrounded the laptop, designed to prevent light pollution.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Kagome said, looking through the viewfinder of her camera to finalize the composition before joining Miroku at the laptop so she could direct him when to press the remote shutter. 

They took a few test shots, and Kagome felt the familiar thrill she associated with doing what she loved. She smiled as an image materialized on the screen, the dark silhouette of the trees and mountaintops cast against the brilliant colors of the aurora. 

Now all they had to do was wait for the meteor shower to pick up.

* * *

Inuyasha trudged through the snow that lay between his storage shed and his cabin, his arms full of firewood. As he walked, he glanced upwards, noting the green light of the aurora dancing in the sky. Nothing new. He was used to seeing it most nights, except for during the summer months or when it was cloudy out. The shooting star that quickly shot across the inky black sky was not as common, however. He paused in surprise for just a moment before drawing his gaze back to the ground in front of him and continuing his trek.

He didn’t make it a habit to spend time looking at the stars. They were just stars. His cabin was just a cabin, the forest just a forest, and he was just Inuyasha, a half demon living on his own in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. He preferred to live his life as simply and quietly as possible, far away from everyone else. Far away from the humans who still hated anyone who resembled a demon, despite the Great Human-Demon War having been over for almost a century. 

He hadn’t even been fucking born yet at the time of the war, yet some people (most of them from the older generation) still looked at him as if he had personally murdered their entire family. It pissed him off to no end, especially since humans had been the ones to win the war and had gotten the domination they wanted. Demons had become scarce, retreating to the outskirts of society or else trying to blend in with humans if their forms resembled them closely enough. They remained isolated, mostly only interacting with each other, and had become somewhat of a novelty to the newer generations of humans. 

Inuyasha wasn’t sure which reaction he hated more: people who knew nothing about him looking at him with pure hatred and prejudice, or people pointing and staring at him like he was some kind of zoo animal. He just wanted to live his life. He didn’t want to hide his dog ears, or his long silver hair, or his yellow eyes. Why should _he_ have to change himself to fit into a society that rejected him for being different? 

He’d rather live completely on his own, carving his own place in the world where he was allowed to just _be_. Far away from both humans and demons, neither side willing to fully accept him since he wasn’t truly one or the other. He didn’t know any other tolerable way to live. 

He finally reached the door of his cabin, the warm light from inside spilling out the windows onto the snowy ground. He had just reached out his hand to turn the doorknob when a slight breeze blew around him and he caught a new scent.

Humans.

 _What the_ hell _are humans doing all the way out here?_

The scent instantly put him on edge. He always worried that people would stumble onto his cabin while out wandering, despite the fact that he had purposefully built it well outside of town to avoid just that. Luckily, there had only been one other time during the last two years that any human ventured this close to his home, and they had left before he had needed to confront them.

The scent got a little stronger, meaning they were getting even closer. Inuyasha growled, trying to decide what to do. Should he just ignore it and hope they didn’t get any closer? Or should he scare them off, forcing them to leave the area completely? They had to be at least a mile or two away, but the scents were only getting stronger, making him uneasy. 

Finally deciding to at least go check out the disturbance and make the call once he saw what they were up to, he opened his front door and dropped the firewood off just inside. As soon as he pulled the door closed again he set off at a run through the trees, his arms flying behind him as he ran towards the offending scent.

As he got closer, he started to distinguish two separate scents. One smelled faintly like Axe Body Spray, Inuyasha assumed a man. But the other scent was distinctly feminine and...actually kind of pleasant? Like vanilla mixed with some sort of fruit. Peaches, maybe? 

Inuyasha’s interest had been piqued, and despite the fact that the scents seemed to be staying put now, he decided to get a little closer to see who they belonged to. He slowed down, focusing on being as quiet as possible as he approached a large clearing and saw two people standing in the middle of it. It looked like they had a tripod set up and were taking photos. 

_Great,_ Inuyasha thought _, probably some stupid tourists who are trying to get shitty photos of the northern lights._

Why the hell did they have to be here, so close to his house? He debated whether or not he should approach them as he silently weaved through the trees and got closer. Could he trust that they would stay in one spot, or would they want to roam around and explore, potentially stumbling upon a small picture-worthy cabin amongst the endless trees?

He finally got close enough to see them clearly, hovering at the edge of the trees. He was close enough to catch pieces of their conversation, something boring about someone’s mother-in-law. One of the people was sitting in a lawn chair with a laptop on their lap, while the other fiddled with the camera on the tripod. It didn’t seem like they were going to be moving anytime soon. 

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Inuyasha decided that it should be safe enough for him to return home. While he didn’t necessarily mind confrontation, he preferred to avoid it if possible. He really didn’t feel like going out of his way to scare the shit out of a couple humans at the moment. He would just have to check on their scents every so often to make sure they didn’t move from that spot. 

He turned around to leave, only to wince and stop dead a moment later when a loud crack reverberated through the clearing. 

_Shit._

He looked down to see that had accidentally snapped a large branch with his foot. A moment later, he heard a piercing shriek followed by a woman’s panicked voice. 

“AHH!! It’s a yeti!”

Inuyasha had been fully prepared to just get the hell out of there, even after alerting the two people to his presence, but the woman’s exclamation had him seeing red. 

_A yeti? Is this woman fucking serious?_

Not in the mood to take any shit, he decided to give them a piece of his mind. Maybe while he was at it, he could scare them away from the area completely. People like this were the reason he had isolated himself from society in the first place. He couldn’t resist the temptation to tell them off, not caring if it only made their clear prejudices against demons even worse.

He turned around and closed the distance to them in a few large bounds, purposefully showing off his superhuman speed to frighten them.

He skidded to a halt right in front of them, finally able to clearly see their faces with his enhanced eyesight. The one who had screamed was a woman with wide blue eyes, a few locks of ebony hair escaping through her drawn hood. Her mouth hung open in surprise, one hand pulled up to her chest. The man sitting on the lawn chair gaped up at him as well. His eyes were wide with shock but he seemed otherwise unafraid.

“Yeti, huh? You think that shit’s funny? I could rip you apart with my bare hands if you want to keep making jokes,” he said menacingly, cracking his knuckles and flashing his claws before balling his hand into a fist at his side. 

He meant to scare her. It was his go-to tactic when dealing with people who tried to take any kind of shot at him. He would intimidate them with his strange demonic features, and they almost always left him alone immediately out of fear. To his surprise, _this_ woman didn’t seem afraid at all. She ignored his threat, her gaze moving up to rest on his ears. He felt them flatten slightly, and was just about to kick his scare tactics up a notch when she finally spoke.

“I’m sorry, I — It’s dark and I only saw a flash of silver hair and your ears. It was the first thing that popped into my head. Clearly, you look nothing like a yeti.”

She squinted at him, trying to see him clearer in the dark with her weak human eyes.

“Keh! Great observation skills, stupid,” Inuyasha mocked her. “Ya know yetis ain’t real, right?”

If she wasn’t _afraid_ of him, then maybe he could use his backup strategy: being an asshole.

“Yes, _I know_ they aren’t real,” she said, an edge forming in her voice as well. “I’m running on three hours of sleep and wasn’t thinking clearly. And watch who you’re calling stupid. I’m trying to apologize here, you don’t need to be an ass!”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. He growled, more than ready to fight back.

“I can be whatever I want, I’m not the one who —”

“Now, now, no need to argue,” the man with her suddenly cut in, placing the laptop on his seat and stepping between the two. 

“Please excuse my friend’s mistake. We’ve been traveling for the last sixteen hours and might be a little _delirious_ at this point. I promise you she meant no offense.”

Inuyasha crossed his arms, matching the woman’s stance. He was annoyed that one of the best scents he had ever smelled, along with some of the bluest eyes he had ever seen, were attached to this woman who was pissing him off to no end.

“Whatever. I’ll leave you to take your stupid tourist photos.”

Inuyasha started to turn away, but halted when the woman threw up her hands in frustration and raised her voice.

“Now _you’re_ the one making snap judgements! We aren’t just _some tourists_. We are photographers for Yugen. You know, _the_ Yugen magazine? This is my _job_!” Her voice was laced with frustration and she had balled her hands into fists at her sides. 

Inuyasha was slightly taken aback. He wasn’t used to people, especially women, meeting him head on. Usually, a well-placed threat and a glimpse of his claws was enough to send them running in the other direction. 

Just then, a shooting star streaked across the sky right above them, and the woman looked up, making a small noise of frustration.

“And _now_ you just made me miss a great shot. Thanks a lot!” 

Her voice had gotten even louder and higher pitched. She shot Inuyasha a glare before looking over at the man with her, who nodded. “I’m on it, boss.” He returned to his seat, bringing the laptop back to his eyes. The woman thanked him before turning back to continue glaring at Inuyasha.

He felt a chill run through his body that had nothing to do with the cold. Her eyes were brilliant and piercing. There was something about them that made him feel something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It wasn’t going to stop him from firing back at her, however.

“You’re the ones trespassing, so I don’t want to hear it!”

“Trespassing? You mean you _live_ all the way out here?” Her hands uncurled and she tilted her head slightly, seeming genuinely interested.

 _Shit._ He hadn’t meant to let that slip.

“What difference does it make to _you_?” Inuyasha spat.

The venom in his voice did nothing to deter her. Her eyebrows only furrowed a bit more before she pressed on. 

“Do you live with family or are you all by yourself?” 

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her. Why the fuck was she asking him so many questions about himself? He wasn’t sure he wanted to answer her, but her inquisitive gaze was unrelenting. It felt like she could see right through him, almost like she already knew the answer anyways. 

After another couple moments of silence she raised her eyebrows at him expectantly, and he found himself blurting out, “It’s just me.” 

He groaned internally at himself. Why did he keep admitting things to her? 

“Don’t see why that fucking matters,” he grumbled partially under his breath, feeling another twinge of that strange feeling her eyes stirred in him. 

The woman’s face softened then, for some reason. She seemed to deflate, losing the edge of her anger.

“That must be so lonely,” she said, her voice quiet and her eyes full of sympathy.

Ugh. If there was one thing he _really_ hated, it was being pitied by humans. _They_ were the reason he lived the way he did. _They_ were the ones who forced demons into hiding. He knew not all humans felt that way, but it didn’t stop his annoyance when they tried to act like they were sorry for him.

“Lonely? Keh, as if! The whole reason I live out here is to be away from people. No human has ever seen where I live and I plan to keep it that way.”

“Do you hate humans?” 

She looked at him as if he were the most interesting subject in the world, every ounce of her attention focused on him. He didn’t know the last time someone looked at him that way, like they actually genuinely cared what he had to say. It threw him off, offsetting his irritation with a slight nervousness. 

“No, but _they_ usually hate _me_ so it’s easier to just keep to myself.”

“Why do they hate you?” Her brow furrowed again.

Inuyasha scoffed, looking at her incredulously. 

“Isn’t it kinda obvious? People aren’t usually very welcoming of demons, especially if they’re only half like me.”

He wasn’t sure why he was still talking to her, let alone spilling one of his greatest insecurities to her. He didn’t exactly try to hide the fact that he’s half demon, but he also usually didn’t go out of his way to tell people. Most humans assumed he was a full demon, and he was fine with that.

It was like this woman had some strange power over him that made him tell her things without thinking. Maybe he really _had_ just been alone for too long.

“Oh, I see. That must be why you were so angry when I reacted that way to seeing you.” Her voice had become even softer. “I really am sorry about that.”

She looked at him with _those damn eyes_ , and he found that he wasn’t angry about it anymore. He could just tell, somehow, that she was being sincere. 

“Whatever. It’s fine, I guess.” He looked away from her, unable to stand the intensity of her gaze any longer.

“My name is Kagome. Kagome Higurashi, staff photographer for Yugen magazine.” She held out a gloved hand towards him, but he didn’t take it. She let it fall with a sigh, gesturing behind her to the seated man. “And this is my friend and assistant, Miroku.”

Miroku nodded in his direction.

Kagome looked back to Inuyasha. “And you are?”

Inuyasha sized them up.

“Inuyasha,” he said grumpily. He was still a little annoyed that instead of scaring them off like he had intended, he had somehow ended up telling them personal information about himself. The longer he spent in the presence of this woman, with her delightfully peachy scent and her penetrative sapphire eyes, the more flustered he felt.

“Well it was nice to meet you, even if you don’t feel the same. If you want to go back to your home, I promise we won’t try to follow you or anything. I would never invade someone’s privacy like that.”

He felt a pang of guilt, something he wasn’t used to feeling very often. He knew that at this point, he was just being an asshole for no reason. These people hadn’t really done anything wrong. They were just trying to do their jobs, and this Kagome woman had made an honest mistake that he knew she was genuinely sorry about. He forced himself to take his frustration down a notch, sighing.

“It’s...nice to meet you guys too,” Inuyasha forced out. It wasn’t easy for him to swallow his pride. “Look, you just caught me in a bad mood, okay?”

Kagome’s eyes brightened, looking relieved that his anger was finally letting up.

“Seems like none of us are at our best tonight,” she said kindly, smiling at him for the first time. 

An idea seemed to come to her then.

“How about this, Inuyasha?”

His eyes widened just a little at the sound of Kagome saying his name. Why did it sound so nice in her voice? Not to mention that it felt like the air had gotten slightly warmer when she smiled. He shook the thought off, wondering what the _hell_ was going on with him. He really needed to make a trip into town soon to be around other people. Apparently the lack of human contact was making him a bit stir crazy.

“We will be back here tomorrow night to photograph the peak of the meteor shower. We’ll be much more rested, and I promise I won’t mistake you for a yeti again.” She smiled at him again, and he felt his heart rate increase ever so slightly. “Why don’t you join us, and as a peace offering I’ll even bring you whatever your favorite treat is from town. What would you like?”

He wasn’t sure why that set him off again. She was being kind and forgiving, he knew that. But she was also treating him like he was some kind of charity case. It was that same pity bullshit that always had the power to ignite his temper that consistently bubbled just under the surface. He was a grown ass man who made his own choice to be alone. 

Even her use of the word “treat” made him feel like she was poking fun at the fact he was part dog demon. He knew that likely wasn’t the case, but his rational thoughts were being overpowered by his anger. It also didn’t help that she had been making him feel all kinds of other things that he didn’t know what to make of, making him already on edge.

“I don’t need any of your stupid pity,” he snapped, perhaps a little more aggressively than he meant to.

Her face fell into a scowl and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“It’s not —” 

She made a noise of frustration and crossed her arms, shaking her head as if he were a lost cause.

“ _Fine_ , take your bad attitude home then. I just thought it might be nice to watch the peak of the meteor shower together if you were already going to be in the area. But if you’re going to be a _jerk_ , then never mind.”

Now she was calling him a _jerk_? The rapidly shrinking rational part of his mind knew he deserved it, but the prideful part of him had already taken over.

“Hey! Listen here, you.” He jabbed a finger towards her, leaning closer. “This is _my_ territory. You’re lucky I’m even _letting_ you come back.”

“ _Oh, am I?_ ” Kagome said sarcastically, leaning in closer to him as well. “First of all, my name isn’t ‘ _you_ ,’ it’s Kagome. And second of all, I’m pretty sure you don’t own any of _this_ ,” she gestured around them at the huge clearing. “So you can just —”

“Kagome!” Miroku called, cutting her off. “Not to interrupt...but things are really starting to pick up overhead.”

“Right, coming.” 

Kagome turned back to Inuyasha, the edge of her anger having faded at the interruption. She uncrossed her arms and sighed.

“Alright, listen. We’ll be back here for the next two nights and then you won’t ever have to deal with us again. If you end up changing your mind...and more importantly your _attitude_ , then you are welcome to come hang out with us while we photograph the meteor shower. We’ll be back around 9:30 tomorrow night.”

Inuyasha felt like he was on a damn roller coaster. One minute she had him in a rage, and the next he had deflated and felt guilty again. It was like she had a mysterious power over him. Was she some kind of sorceress? 

Maybe it was just her sweet scent that had slowly been surrounding him while they talked. That alone had him feeling a bit like he was drunk, his thoughts and emotions running haywire. He had never met anyone that made him feel like that, and it was making him uneasy.

Kagome looked directly in his eyes then, her piercing blue irises sending a slight chill down his spine.

“And for the record, I don’t _pity_ you. I just...know what loneliness feels like.” Her voice was quiet now, and sincere. “Sometimes, it’s nice to have someone else around. Or at least, _I_ think it is.” 

She looked at him for a long moment, like she was searching for something. Inuyasha let her look, feeling that same strange pull towards her. Part of him wanted to stay and learn more about her.

“Goodnight, Inuyasha. I hope to see you again tomorrow, when we’re both in better moods.”

She really did look completely exhausted, and he felt another tug of that annoying remorse. He really hadn’t needed to be such an asshole and stress her out even more. Feeling like it was probably best for him to just leave her alone before his temper got the best of him again, Inuyasha resigned himself to swallow his pride for the second time that night.

He took a couple steps backwards away from her as he forced out, “Sorry for...being a dick. Good luck with your photos and...uh...goodnight.”

He nodded slightly at the duo, taking one last look at Kagome’s brilliant blue eyes before turning away and bounding into the trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comet is named after a character from an episode of Inuyasha (thanks for the suggestion NeutronStarChild!), but it's really obscure. I had to look it up to even remember his name. I'll be interested to see if anyone remembers him!
> 
> More thanks to Jane for the idea of Kagome mistaking Inuyasha for a yeti the first time she sees him!😂 I giggled when she first said it, but after thinking more about it I decided that would actually be a pretty understandable mistake for a sleep-deprived Kagome to make in the darkness if she just sees a flash of silver hair and pointed ears😆. So thank you Jane for the idea that ended up becoming the title of this chapter!
> 
> Also, just one more writer's note. In this chapter and the next one I am going to separate Inuyasha and Kagome's perspectives. Usually, I prefer to flow back and forth between perspectives as I write without creating a hard separation. So after the first couple chapters, expect to see that change. I hope it isn't too jarring!


End file.
